Why is it that we consume media in the ways we do? Are you a passive consumer, or an active one? Why do media use the techniques they do to draw in audiences? Even as media literate as intelligent individuals we are controlled by our media? These are just some of the questions we will consider as we explore the topic of media theory/history. Although I lead this course from a critical perspective, I will introduce you to more social science/behavior theories throughout the semester. However, as you peruse the syllabus, you will see that we will concentrate on a few key critical theories (as they apply to media): feminist theory, critical race theory, queer theory, and governmentality.

This course explores the social construction of gender and its relationship to socioeconomic class, race, ethnicity, age, sexual identity, ability, and other positionalities. A wide range of topics are discussed including: women’s history; women’s movements; learning gender in a diverse society; system of privilege and inequality; gender and sports; gender, beauty and the body; mass media and popular culture; consumerism and consumer cultures; civic engagement and politics; girlhood and coming of age in a global world; debates within feminism; work and family matters; gendered violence; women’s health; sex trafficking; ecofeminism and the environment; and social activism and change.